PPTA · Transforming society: PPTA, this year, under the leadership of Dan DiPaola, will be...
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PPTA Pennsylvania Physical Thera- py Associaon 2017 SPRING QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER Featured in this Issue: President’s Message Con Ed/Conference 17 Ethics Arcle 24 Payment Specialist 30 Component News: Districts 4 Commiees 15 Special Interest Groups 26 PT/PTA Programs 32 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE TO THE MEMBERSHP By Colleen Chancler, PT, MHS What if? What if we were able to transform society? We are oſten told that our ability to trans- form comes in exceponal moments. But what if that transformaon lies in the cu- mulave smaller moments when we inter- act with our paents/clients? We provide the best possible care in an empathec en- vironment and that transforms our paents’/clients’ abil- ity to exercise to reduce pain and not depend on opioids, to walk aſter having a stroke, to play in a school play- ground, to return to play aſter injury. Don’t underes- mate that impact when in doing “your job” you transform potenal into a reality. Transforming pracce: PPTA offers FREE membership to all the Special Interest Groups (SIGs)-just send a request and BAM, you are in. And in the last Acute Care SIG webi- nar, they had over 50 registrants for FREE webinar on the latest method to mobilize paents in the ICU. That is us- ing our clinical experts (SIGs) to promote the care we can provide that will transform the experience of many pa- ents in the ICU and beyond.
Transcript of PPTA · Transforming society: PPTA, this year, under the leadership of Dan DiPaola, will be...
PPTA Pennsylvania
Physical Thera-py
Association
2017 SPRING
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
Featured in this Issue:
President’s Message
Con Ed/Conference 17
Ethics Article 24
Payment Specialist 30
Component News:
Districts 4
Committees 15
Special Interest Groups 26
PT/PTA Programs 32
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE TO THE MEMBERSHP
By Colleen Chancler, PT, MHS
What if?
What if we were able to transform society?
We are often told that our ability to trans-form comes in exceptional moments. But what if that transformation lies in the cu-mulative smaller moments when we inter-act with our patients/clients? We provide the best possible care in an empathetic en-
vironment and that transforms our patients’/clients’ abil-ity to exercise to reduce pain and not depend on opioids, to walk after having a stroke, to play in a school play-ground, to return to play after injury. Don’t underesti-mate that impact when in doing “your job” you transform potential into a reality.
Transforming practice: PPTA offers FREE membership to all the Special Interest Groups (SIGs)-just send a request and BAM, you are in. And in the last Acute Care SIG webi-nar, they had over 50 registrants for FREE webinar on the latest method to mobilize patients in the ICU. That is us-ing our clinical experts (SIGs) to promote the care we can provide that will transform the experience of many pa-tients in the ICU and beyond.
Transforming society: PPTA, this year, under the leadership of Dan DiPaola, will be coordinating the PTDOS (PT Day of Service) in October. So, get your thinking caps on as I know we can do incredible things in this state-I see it every day! If you would like to be part of this event, please contact chap-ter office at [email protected].
Transforming our reach in Harrisburg: PPTA leadership met in March with the POTA and the PA Chiropractor Association leadership to discuss our common goals. We have a lot in common re-garding caring about wellness and health of those we treat and legislation that would allow our pa-tients/clients to have access to our care and that would allow fair payment and copayments, access to our clinics, ability to have rehabilitation medicine as part of the health plan. We all agreed to meet more regularly and hope we can convey our common goal of excellent care in an affordable way to our clients, our legislature and our memberships.
What if we were able to optimize movement?
-we are movement experts and that recognition allows us to provide specialized care for our patients/clients. In a climate of opioid abuse, non-pharmaceutical, compassionate care that can return individuals back to societal roles is critical. Those living with chronic illness, those wanting to lead healthy lifestyles and those seeking movement efficiencies are our clients.
-Our patients/clients need to have access to our care.
-PPTA has been working with the Workers Compensation Bureau to discuss what we believe is a misinterpretation of the value of our examination codes as of January 1, 2017. I would like to thank Carole Galetta and Paul Welk for their support on this issue and we hope to have more news soon on re-valuation of the codes after our scheduled hearing in April. The examination we did on Dec.31 is the same examination we are doing now and we should be appropriately compensated.
-PPTA has been moving forward with PT Compact licensure. This contractual legislation would al-low PT/PTA in PA to provide care in other compact states without having to obtain another PT/PTA license. There are excellent resources for more information on both on APTA(www.apta.org-advocacy-state advocacy-current issues) and FSBPT(the Federation of State Boards) web pages. PPTA has the language of the bill set and should be meeting with our prime sponsor in March.
-PPTA has been working to ensure fair business practices with insurers like High-mark. Our request for information on the last cut is in process and we continue to request explanation and inform the Insurance Commissioner of unwarranted cuts in payment with-out fair notice or explanation.
-Our patient/clients deserve the best standard of care available.
-APTA has started enrolling partners in the Outcomes Registry. For more infor-mation, go to www.apta.org- practice and patient care-evidence based practice. Many thanks to Dr. Jay Irrgang who has been one of the leaders of the in development and implementation of the PT Outcomes Registry
-Congratulations to the many PA certified clinical specialists and those recertifying their clinical specialization. The list was long at CSM and PA was well represented
-Mini-CSM, which started in the SW district, has grown in popularity. There are 5 districts now with mini-CSMs which provide quality continuing education in addition to the oppor-tunity for networking and idea sharing. Look in your area to attend.
What if we were able to improve the human experience?
-we impact the lives of those we work with and for by our commitment to quality, our com-mitment to compassionate care and our commitment to being unapologetic for excellence.
-after attending CSM, I was inspired by other states that had Minority Affairs Com-mittees. I was not the only person inspired to start a minority affairs committee. Jazmine Tooles is going to help PPTA coordinate this newly formed committee. The committee is just starting and will be part of the Membership Committee for the primary purpose to increase participation of minority persons to join and participate in our profession. If you are interested in being part of this com-mittee, please contact our Membership chair, Lauren Bilski ([email protected]).
-tell your story of why you became a PT and look at those posted online already. Contact Chapter office at [email protected] for more details
-learn about the many volunteer opportunities with schools-pro bono clinics, service trips- and organizations that support low to no cost therapy services. We get what we give and PA has lots of giving.
Each person we touch, each interaction we have, makes a difference. It is the cumulative effect of the many interactions we all have that will make the difference and transform society.
What if indeed.
DISTRICT NEWS
NORTHCENTRAL
By Kathryn Robinholt
Thursday, March 16th, 2017- 7pm
Speaker: Dave Johnson, PT, MSPT, MTC Topic: Myofascial Manipulation Location: UPMC Susquehanna ELYMCA, 50 Fitness Drive, Muncy, PA 17756 Worth one continuing education credit and FREE to all who attend
Saturday, March 25th, 2017-730am-445pm (registration 730-8 am, 45 minutes for lunch on your own in the afternoon)
Topic: Evidence Based Approach to Orthopaedic Manual PT of the shoulder Presented by Widener University Location: Penn College of Technology, PTA Lab Cost: $60 for PPTA members, $150 for non-members (PPTA members receive 40% dis-
count and 3 FREE HOURS!) Registration: Mail a check payable to PPTA to Chris Jones, 285 S. Main Street, Mansfield
PA 16933 by MARCH 1st, 2017 Maximum of 33 participants so register quickly!!!! Approved for 8 hours of continuing education credit
Thursday, April 20th, 2017-7pm
Speaker: Dr. Ivan Mulligan, PT, DSc, SCS, ATC, CSCS Topic: Issues Forum Location: TBD but check Facebook for updates!
Thursday, May 18th, 2017-7pm
Speaker: Dwight Heller, OTR, CHT Topic: Treatment For Injuries to the Wrist, Hand, and Fingers Location: UPMC Susquehanna MVH outpatient PT clinic, 215 E. Water St, Muncy, PA
17756 Worth one continuing education credit and FREE to all who attend
Don’t forget to “like” us on Facebook! NCD PPTA
Please contact Katie Robinholt at [email protected] with questions per our dis-
trict’s upcoming events.
NORTHEAST
By Elizabeth Troese, District Director
This year is jam packed with great education, networking events, volunteering events, and member
benefits!Are we missing information that you would like to see on our Newsletters? Please email
your NED District Director (Liz Troese: [email protected]) and she will be sure to make
those changes to better meet your needs.
Spring 2017 Northeast Dirstrict Monthly Meetings and Continuing Education Offerings:
(see website for information updates)
New for 2017: Any PPTA members who bring a non-member to our monthly meeting will be eligi-
ble for a free gift! Ask a colleague to carpool and network!
MARCH
Date: Tuesday March 21, 2017 (Date changed due to Winter Storm Warning in effect for
3/14/17)—please see webpage
Time: 6:30pm Networking; 7pm Meeting
Sponsor: Rock Steady Boxing Northeast PA
Location: Rock Steady Boxing Northeast PA
1 Maxson Drive
Old Forge, PA 18518
Presentation: Rock Steady Boxing: An empowering fitness program specifically designed for people
with Parkinson’s which
complements and reinforces skilled PT interventions
Speakers: Kathy Reap, PT
Contact: [email protected]
**Dress in comfortable clothing as this meeting includes an interactive workshop!
APRIL
Date: Tuesday April 11, 2017
Time: 6:30pm Networking; 7pm Meeting
Sponsor: Physical Therapy at St. Luke’s
Location: St. Luke’s Bethlehem
Presentation: tba
Speakers: tba
Contact: tba
April— NORTHEAST DISTRICT MINICSM!!!!!! (REGISTRATION: $20 STUDENTS/$30 MEMBERS/$40 NONMEMBERS) Date: Saturday April 29, 2017 Location: St. Luke's Hospital - Monroe Campus Medical Office Building Conference Room A and B 100 St. Luke's Lane Stroudsburg, PA 18360 Schedule 7:15 - 8:00 am: Breakfast and registration 8:00 - 10:00 am: Trauma: Assessment and Considerations: Dr. Annie Verghese * Ap-proved for 1.5 General hrs and 0.5 Evaluative hrs 10:15 - 12:15 pm: Selecting, Implementing and Interpreting Measures of Balance and Function for Older Adults: What Every Practitioner Should Know : Dr. Robert Wellmon * Ap-proved for 2 Evaluative hrs Contact: Kaitlyn Wisser ([email protected]_ There will be registration discount coupons available for any Member bringing a Nonmember to our MiniCSM! These discount coupons will be offered at the March and April NED monthly meetings! The member registration rate will be $15!
This event has limited registration so please register early! See you there!
MAY
Date: Tuesday May 9, 2017
Time: 6:30pm Networking; 7pm Meeting
Sponsor: Lackawanna College
Location: Lackawanna College
Presentation: Delegates Meeting
Speakers: tba
Contact: tba
PPTA Annual Conference 2017: Seven Springs Mountain Resort on October 27 thru 29!
Plan ahead for the early bird rates and room with a colleague or friend for more savings! Check out
this great location!
http://www.7springs.com/play-activities/
via email ( [email protected] ).
The Northeast District welcomes our 2017 PPTA NED Student Liaison: Please join us in congratulating Daniel Breiner (DPT student of DeSales University) for being select-ed with the honor of becoming our Northeast District Student Liaison for 2017! The Northeast Dis-trict Student Liaison serves an important role: to connect students/new professionals and clinicians, assist with District event planning, as well as provide insight into evolving needs of student members and student members transitioning towards new professionals. The Northeast District welcomes Daniel and we are excited to work with you this year! Daniel Breiner can be contacted via email ( [email protected] ). Are you interested in becoming a LAN representative for your local State representative? Please contact your NED LAN Committee Chair, Sean Vitale ([email protected]). Not sure what a LAN representative is? Please see below for details. Some hot legislative topics will be coming up this year and this is the time to start developing communication and visits with your local representa-tive! Let us know if you are wondering how you can become more involved as a PPTA NED LAN rep-resentative. Legislative Handbook: http://voting.ppta.org/article/95/governance/committees/legislative-committee/legislative-handbook
Description of LAN Representative Duties: http://www.ppta.org/docs/default-source/legislative-committee/legislative-ambassador-network-description.pdf?sfvrsn=0
The Northeast District PPTA will be active on Facebook and Twitter! Join us this year on Facebook and Twitter under the title "NED PPTA"! Stay tuned for new posts and updates! Northeast District PPTA Officer Elections for 2017 : The NED District Director Officer position will be opening on December 31, 2017. Elections will open, starting June and close in August 2017). If you are interested in running, or would like to nomi-nate someone who you think would be great in this role, please contact the NED Nominating Chair Kay Malek ([email protected]). Please go to the webpage, in June, to view the slate of candidates and cast your vote: http://voting.ppta.org/ne_ballot/ . We appreciate your considera-tion!
The Northeast District sponsors scholarships for the 2017 APTA State Policy & Payment Forum!
The 2017 State Policy and Payment Forum will be held September 16-17 at the Detroit Marriott Re-naissance Center in Detroit, Michigan. The Northeast District sponsors a member (student and/or professional) to attend this great educational/networking/advocacy opportunity, annually. This event is designed to increase involvement and knowledge of state legislative issues that have an im-pact on the practice and payment of physical therapy, and to improve advocacy efforts at the state level. It is an opportunity to collaborate with colleagues and other professionals from across the country and listen to influential public policy makers and physical therapy advocates. The selected individual(s) will be required give an update on their experience after our NED October 2017 monthly meeting. Please look for an email/webpage update for when this scholarship becomes active (Summer 2017). We look forward to sponsoring you!
Thinking about joining the Northeast District or Chapter PPTA team???
If you are thinking about volunteering or ‘getting your feet wet’ with Chapter or District organization
activities and events, visit this page on ppta.org: Volunteer List http://ppta.org/Home/ppta-
volunteer-page
Don’t be afraid….we are willing to show you the ropes and help you start your journey toward PPTA
involvement. Let us know what you are interested in and we will get you started! This is a great mem-
bership organization and we welcome members who would like to be part of the action! So…what are
you waiting for???
You can receive email or text notifications of upcoming meetings by visiting this page: http://ppta.org/Districts/Northeast.aspx
Submit your response in the box on the top right corner of the page.
As always, the Northeast District PPTA Thanks YOU for being involved in your professional organiza-
tion.........
our profession depends on it!
SOUTHCENTRAL
By Sue Gerhard, District Director
Spring Newsletter 2017
Collaboration, Connection and Community
Sharing successes, requesting assist for challeng-es and moving our profession forward - Who is Your PT?
Cost effective continuing education courses
Practice at the top of your license!
Legislative issues, payment options, self-governance
Use your Voice! Transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience. Join us – PPTA.org
SOUTHEAST
By Bob Wellmon, District Director
We are off to great start for the new year and finished 2016 with truly outstanding attendance at one
of the district meetings.
Colleen Bradley, PT, DPT and the Program Committee have been very busy with planning and running
educational events in the district. Thanks to their efforts, multiple opportunities are available to inex-
pensively acquire one-third of the necessary CEUs for the 2017-2018 licensure cycle by attending dis-
trict events.
The November district meeting had record attendance. Over 140 attended the standing room only
event, which was one of the best attended district meetings in 2016.
Dr. Steve Carp, PT, PhD, GCS, who is on faculty at DeSales University, presented on the assessment of older adults. His presentation focused on a system's approach to the physical therapy examination, the selection of evidenced-based appropriate tests and measures, and a review of laboratory and radi-ological data appropriate to this cohort. His handout from the presentation can be downloaded by clicking here. I would like to thank Grace Karamon, PT and Sandy Abrams, PT, MEd, DPT for agreeing to host the meeting. The Young Professionals seminar is in its 4th year and was held on the campus of Einstein Hospital.
Stephanie Tornquist, PT, DPT, NCS and Michele Aguado, PT teamed up to present the Young Profes-
sionals Seminar, which was organized by Alex Haddad and hosted by MossRehab. The session topic
was an Update on the Clinical Management of Parkinson's Disease. Attendance at the 4th edition of
the event exceeded that of past years. The audience of 56 had licensed practicing physical therapists
and physical therapist assistants. A cadre of students from DeSales University made the trip to sup-
port the event and learn more about Parkinson's Disease.
I feel very fortunate to have district members who get involved at the local and state level, and are
very much involved in their own professional development to better serve the patients in the region. I
would like to congratulate 2 members from the SED on their recent election to statewide PPTA office.
Marci Ruediger, PT, MS will be serving on the nominating committee and Jane Oeffner, PT, DPT, MBA
was re-elected as Secretary. I would also like to thank and acknowledge 3 others in the district for
their willingness to run for a state-wide position: Jamila Aberdeen, PT, DPT, OCS, Matthew Senese,
PT, DPT, OCS, and Brendan Sullivan, PT, MSPT, OCS.
District member and Drexel University Professor Maggie O'Neil, PT, PhD, MPH was featured on a CBS10 video segment in December discussing her collaborative work on enAble Games, a project that designs video games for kids with motor control deficits. Carol Wamsley, PT, DPT, NCS, CBIS serves as consultant on the project and was also interviewed for the segment, which can be viewed at the fol-lowing link: http://cbsloc.al/2gCdHm5.
For the upcoming year, the SED is looking for additional ways to network physical therapist, physical
therapy assistants and students that are both fun and provide a give-back to the state to support up-
coming legislative issues. Kristin Reardon, PT, DPT, who is the SED's PA PT PAC liaison, will be leading
the effort, along with Laurie Hack, PT, DPT, MBA, PhD, FAPTA, Kristen von Nieda, PT, DPT, MEd, Sue
Wainwright, PT, PhD, Kayla Kotteles, PT, DPT, and Shannon Tempio, PT, DPT. Plans are underway to
host a dinner with friends event, a distillery tour, wine tastings, a painting with friends evening, a golf
outing, and the fall tailgate event at the Philadelphia Union game.
Finally, I would like to recognize those individuals from the district who became newly certified clini-
cal specialists or were recertified.
Certified:
Geriatrics
Thomas Edger, Philadelphia, PA
Christina Freshman, Philadelphia, PA
Colin Hunsberger, Philadelphia, PA
Zachary Smicker, Lansdowne, PA
Anne Whiting, Philadelphia, PA
Neuroloqic
Lisa Donahue, Ambler, PA
Molly Dymond, Wyndmoor, PA
Jennifer Ellis, Philadelphia, PA
Jasmine Jackson, Philadelphia, PA
Alan Kuminkoski, Jenkintown, PA
Shannon Marriner, Philadelphia, PA
Elena Newland, Philadelphia, PA
Stephanie Tornquist, Glenside, PA
Michael Fine, Dresher, PA
Orthopaedic
Elsa Amaral, Havertown, PA
Stephen Banks, Dresher, PA
Brendon Cummings, Horsham, PA
Jamie Curley, Folsom, PA
Christian Diaz, Philadelphia, PA
Jane Fagan, Horsham, PA
Kristin Fleming, Philadelphia, PA
Daniel Goldstein, Havertown, PA
Ian Griffith, Downingtown, PA
Suzanne Hicklin, Chalfont, PA
Charles Johnson, Schwenksville, PA
Alyson Malitsky, Philadelphia, PA
Michael O'Hara, Philadelphia, PA
Jennifer Perna, Newtown, PA
Jamie Rosenberg, Broomall, PA
Jeffrey Ruth, Conshohocken, PA
Brenden Uhll, Southampton, PA
William Wimble, Phoenixville, PA
Stephanie Zaucha, Broomall, PA
Stefanie Zerhusen, Glenside, PA
Pediatrics
Courtney Mullen, Philadelphia, PA
Michael Knapp, Philadelphia, PA
Women's Health
Gina Cunningham, Downingtown, PA
Nicole Dugan, Philadelphia, PA
Lisa Sator, Philadelphia, PA
Recertified:
Cardiovascular and Pulmona
Joseph Adler, Jenkintown, PA
Geriatrics
Amy Harper, Bryn Mawr, PA
Jan Meiers, Philadelphia, PA
Neuroloqic
Shannon Ames, Philadelphia, PA
Matthew Vnenchak, Jenkintown, PA
Robert Wellmon, Glenolden, PA
Orthopaedic
Lynne Gramberg, Philadelphia, PA
Diana Hearn, Media, PA
Kathryn Hemsley, Glenside, PA
Sean Loughlin, Philadelphia, PA
Troy Norton, Coatesville, PA
Sports
Bryan O'Halloran, Havertown, PA
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SOUTHWEST
By Jamie Dunlap Coates, District Director
UPMC Mercy Hospital, Clark Auditorium was the location of the January 10, 2017 SWD educational session. Allyn Bove, PT, DPT, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the Uni-versity of Pittsburgh, presented “Health Disparities: Relevance to Physical Therapy Research and Practice.” This educational session was approved for 1 general CEU. Newly elected SWD secretary, Kristen Hussar, and Nominating Committee Member, Victoria Kochick were sworn into office during the business meeting.
The 8th Annual Southwest District Mini Combined Sections Meeting was held February 25, 2017 at UPMC Shadyside Hospital, Herberman Conference Center. Nearly 160 attendees earned up to 3 CEUs in the areas of Cardiopulmonary, Geriatric, Pediatric, and Orthopedic Physical Therapy Practice. Melissa Bednarek, PT, DPT, PhD spoke on"Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Medications: (Only) What You Need to Know!" Jim Eng, PT, DPT, MS, GCS presented, “"Stage-specific Assessment and Manage-ment of lndividuals with Alzheimer's Dementia." The Pediatric lecture,“MOVING OUT OF THE COM-FORT ZONE: problem-solving to advance motor and cognitive development," was presented by Regi-na T. Harbourne, PhD, PT, PCS. The Orthopedic session, “"Evaluation and Treatment of the Hip Re-gion" was presented by RobRoy Martin, PhD, PT, CSCS .
Spring 2017 Educational Sessions/Business Meetings for the SWD
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Speaker: Anthony Delitto, PhD, PT, FAPTA
Topic: “Integrate or Die on the Vine: What Physical Therapy Can Learn from Fishing Reels and Bicy-cle Sprockets”
Location: University Club, University of Pittsburgh 123 University Pl, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Speaker: Kathleen Brandfass , MS, PT
Topic: “Updates on MS”
Location: The Willows 1215 Hulton Rd, Oakmont, PA 15139
Approved for 1 General CEU
Topic: Delegates' Updates
Location: Chatham University, Eastside 6585 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Speaker: SWD Delegates
Topic: Delegates' Updates
Location: Chatham University, Eastside 6585 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
SAVE THE DATE: ANNUAL SWD PPTA PAC FUNDRAISER AT PNC PARK
Saturday, June 10, 2017, 2pm
Pirates vs Florida Marlins
Adults $40, Children $20, Students $25
Price includes Pre-game Tailgate Party, Grandstand Seat, and Pirates Baseball Hat
WESTCENTRAL
By Nate Barr, District Director
The WestCentral District is underway to provide quality education and Con. Ed. hours to members
and nonmembers. We hope to provide information and evidenced based content to apply to your
clinic, while highlighting our local peers who are leading the way with the latest literature.
March 21: “A Targeted Approach to Exercise and Parkinson’s Disease” with speaker Jamie Hudy, PT,
DPT
April 11: Pain management topic from local neurologist TBA
May 9: “Central Sensitization and Explaining Pain” with speaker Sara DelSignore, DPT, WHNC
Don’t forget to stick around after the meeting to meet at local pubs to network and have closer
conversations about issues our area PTs are facing.
We would also like to introduce and welcome our appointed Student Liaison Brittany Sponsler from
Saint Francis University, as we look forward to working with her to engage our student population.
And also keep your eyes and ears open for some exciting events including possible brewery bus
tour to raise monies for the PA PT PAC.
Please contact Nate Barr at [email protected] for any questions or for more information.
AWARDS
By Bob Wellmon, Chair
Do you know someone who inspires others to be better clinicians? When looking around your facil-
ity, is there a clinician who seems to give a little more of themselves when working with patients or
takes the time to mentor students and peers? Is there a colleague, who over the course of their
career has had evolving roles as a clinician, educator, and researcher? Have you encountered
someone who tirelessly gives back to the profession on regular basis either by serving in elected
roles or volunteering to help others in need? Have you worked with a student who demonstrates
leadership abilities? Maybe there is a person who is not a physical therapist but has made a positive
contribution to the profession…
If you can answer yes to any of the questions posed, you should consider nominating that person
for a Pennsylvania Physical Therapy Association (PPTA) Award.
The Awards Committee, along with the Special Interests Groups and the Membership Committee,
are looking for nominations to recognized individuals with the state who have been very involved in
the profession in a variety of roles.
The PPTA Awards Committee is looking for nominations for the following:
Service Award. Honors service of the PT/PTA to the PPTA by an individual in a non-elected or
elected role as a supported of the associations goals and objectives.
Humanitarian Award. Recognizes service, which must be outside the profession of physical
therapy, that may be of intensive short or consistent long duration by the PT/PTA.
Fellowship Award. Honors service by a non-PT/PTA that has contributed to the betterment of
the physical therapy profession within the Commonwealth of PA.
Carlin Michels Achievement Award. Given in recognition to a PT/PTA who has made an out-
standing contribution to the profession in patient care, education, research, and/or service to
the community.
Steven Kolumban Award. Honors service by the PTA to the SIG’s, the PPTA or APTA.
COMMITTEE NEWS
The PPTA Special Interest Groups Awards Committee is currently seeking nominations for the
Acute Care, Geriatric, Pediatric, and Neurology SIG Awards. These awards recognize excellence in
patient care or clinical practice, excellence in education or research, and involvement in communi-
ty advocacy.
Two awards from PPTA are available to students:
Dr. Tom Stewart Award. The scholarship is to fund a student PT who is in their last year of
school to attend the PPTA Annual Conference. This award includes hotel stay for 2 nights,
conference registration, admission to the PT-PAC fundraiser, and acknowledgment with
framed certificate, which will be presented at the PPTA Annual Membership Meeting during
the conference.
Student Leadership Award. This award acknowledges a student who has already shown that
they are on the path towards an active contribution to the APTA on a local, state, or national
level as they transition to becoming a professional member of the Association.
Nominations and letters of recommendation are due by June 30, 2017 and can be sent to Kim Annibali in the Chapter Office. Her email contact is [email protected]. Please see the following link to learn more about the requirements for the various awards and to
nominate yourself or someone else anonymously: http://www.ppta.org/Committees/Awards.aspx.
CONFERENCE & CONTINUING EDUCATION
By Shannon Scanlan, Chair
Members: Marty Malone, Marci Ruediger, Jeffrey Rothman, Kristin Von Nieda
Our committee has been hard at work coordinating with the Board of Directors and other com-mittees on restructuring the format of conference for years to come. With less time to fit continuing education in and decreasing budgets for con ed, we want to provide a conference with a shortened structure in order to allow you more time for work and family, but also to continue providing quality education. We continue to work with the Board of Directors in order to determine our final confer-ence schedule. Look for more news on the changes to conference structure in upcoming newsletter articles!
We are gearing up and excited to put the final touches on Annual Conference 2017 with lots of in-teresting tracts available to fit clinicians in all practice settings. We will also be offering mandatory Ethics and Law credits for license renewal. Keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook pages for mar-keting for our upcoming conference!
2017 PPTA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Registration will soon be open for our PPTA Annual Conference held at Seven Springs Resort
in Seven Springs, PA from Friday October 27 – Sunday October 29, 2017!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2017
8:00 am – 9:00 pm
Registration Open
9:00 – 11:00 am
Keynote Address – Mike Eisenhart, PT
11:00 am – Noon
Legislative Ambassador Luncheon
CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSES
Noon – 4:00 p.m. (break 2-2:30 pm)
“Physical Therapy Management of People with Diabetes” – Mary Hastings, PT, DPT, MSCI, ATC
“Evidence Based Vestibular Rehabilitation for Children: Incidence, Impairments, Assessment and
Treatment”- Rose Marie Rine, PT, PhD
“Current Concepts in the Rehabilitation of the Upper Extremity” – Lenny Macrina, MSPT, SCS, CSCS
Acute Care Topic- Mary Sinnott, PT, DPT, MeD
2:00 – 9:00 pm
Exhibit Hall Open
5:00 – 7:00 pm
Special Interest Group Meetings
Acute Care
Geriatric
Neurologic
Pediatric
Physical Therapist Assistants
Private Practice
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Opening Reception
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2017
7:00 am – 2:30 pm
Registration Open
CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSES
8:00 am – 4:30 pm (breaks 10-11 am, 12:30-2 pm)
“Physical Therapy Management of People with Diabetes”- Mary Hastings, PT, DPT, MSCI, ATC
“Evidence Based Vestibular Rehabilitation for Children: Incidence, Impairments, Assessment and
Treatment”- Rose Marie Rine, PT, PhD
“Current Concepts in the Rehabilitation of the Upper Extremity”- Lenny Macrina, MSPT, SCS, CSCS
Acute Care Topic- Mary Sinnott, PT, DPT, MeD
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Poster Platforms
10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Exhibit Hall Open
12:30 pm
Lunch with the Exhibitors
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Research Presentations
4:45 – 6:30 pm
Annual Membership Meeting
7:30 – 10:30 pm
PA PT PAC Event
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2017
8:00 – 8:30 am
Registration Open
CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSES
8:30 am – 12:45 pm (break 10:30-10:45 am)
“How Dare She Sue Me! A Mock Trial Emphasizing Clinical, Legal and Ethical Aspects of PT Practice”-
MaryAnn Wharton, PT, MS and Jason Bialker, MPT, JD
“Osteoporosis and Bone Health: An Inter-Professional Approach to Fracture Prevention and Effec-tive Treatment”- Lisa Goussetis, PT, CCTT and Gwen Ellert, Med, BScN, RN
“Redefining Physical Therapy and Capitalizing on Wellness – What Stakeholders are Looking for From You!”- Brian Cardin, PT, C.PED and Jacyln Chadborne, MA, CES
Congestive Heart failure Topic- Mary Sinnott, PT, DPT, MeD
***MARK YOUR CALENDAR***
PPTA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
OCTOBER 27 – OCTOBER 29
SEVEN SPRINGS, PA
MEMBERSHIP
By Lauren Bilski, Chair
It is an exciting time to be a member of the PPTA! In an effort to expand membership engagement,
we have developed new opportunities for professional growth. One initiative in which we have con-
tinued to make progress on is the PPTA Mentorship Program. We would like to thank all of you who
participated in the survey. Your responses have helped us to direct the development of this program
by identifying clear mentorship goals. If you haven’t participated but are interested in contributing,
please visit our webpage and click the link, “Dream More, Learn More, Become More, Join the PPTA
Mentorship Program Today.” We will be presenting our research and proposal to the Board of Direc-
tors in April so stay tuned for updates on the official launch shortly thereafter.
The membership committee is also excited to continue working towards new initiatives to support
student and young professional members. Connect PA continues to develop webinars to help ease
the transition from classroom to clinic. On March 23rd, students attended “Joining the Workforce:
Speaking with Potential Employers” for the opportunity to ask questions directly to PA employers. We
also opened up a new opportunity for student growth and advocacy development with funding to
attend the 2017 Federal Advocacy Forum. Congratulations to Victoria Wrightson for being awarded
the scholarship this year. We can’t wait to hear about her experience in D.C. advocating for Physical
Therapy with the help of mentors from the PPTA. We hope to continue providing these important
programs so be sure to follow us on Twitter and like the Pennsylvania Physical Therapy Association on
Facebook to stay up to date on the latest opportunities!
All of the incredible work at the PPTA is made possible because of our membership, 5,222 members
strong! As always, we hope to continue to meet your needs in order to continue our growth and ad-
vocacy for this profession. Check out our 2016 Year in Review on the PPTA Webpage and please con-
tact me at [email protected] with any new projects or ideas you would like to see in 2017!
Thank you for your membership!
NOMINATING By Nancy Shipe, Chair
2017 members of the PPTA Nominating Committee: Nancy K. Shipe [email protected] Jessica Laniak [email protected] Marci Ruediger [email protected]
Leadership development resources are available for members on the PPTA website. Log in at ppta.org. Go to the “Members Only” page then in the left-hand column click on “Leadership De-velopment”. Topics include leadership resources, leadership self- assessment, mentorship, core values self-assessment and links to leadership webinars. Feel free to utilize these resources for self-development or facilitation of leadership skills with students and new professionals.
The PPTA Nominating Committee is accepting nominations for 2 chapter offices and 1 committee position for the 2018-2021 term. Elections will be held this year for PPTA treasurer and chief dele-gate as well as a member of the nominating committee.
Inasmuch as Robin Dole has served the PPTA as its Chief Delegate and Jeff Welk as Treasurer for 2 terms, they are not eligible to run in the upcoming election. Jeffrey Rothman completed his term of service as Nominating Committee chair at the end of 2016. We thank them for their tireless and competent service.
You may self-nominate or submit the name of another nominee. The committee with contact the persons recommended to determine eligibility and consent. You may simply email one of the committee members or complete the PPTA Leadership Recommendation Form at http://www.ppta.org/Committees/Nominating/leadership-recommendation-form
PUBLIC POLICY & ADVOCACY By Ivan Mulligan, Chair The PPAC begins another year first with change. Two members of the committee have completed
their terms, Paul Locum and Doug Slick. We appreciate and thank you Paul and Doug for all the work
they done for this committee and the PPTA over the past few years. This create two openings for the
committee and Megan Reid and Mark Boland have agreed to serve the committee. Steve Gough,
Deborah Alexander and I look forward to working with Megan and Mark over the next few years.
The PPAC committee has the following responsibilities:
A. Provides strategic advice, counsel, and options to the Board of Directors regarding how
PPTA can be responsive to and advocate for society’s needs for health care, rehabilitation, and
other services provided by physical therapists in Pennsylvania.
B. Maintain and implement a plan for identifying, prioritizing, and managing current and
emerging public policy issues impacting the provision of physical therapy, rehabilitation, and
health care services, including, but not limited to, delivery systems, payment for services,
public health, quality, research, education, and access to care.
C. Maintain the Legislative Ambassador Network (LAN) to advance the profession within
public policy arenas, including but not limited to legislative and regulatory venues.
D. Recognize public policy opportunities and challenges for physical therapy and provide
advice and counsel as requested to the Board of Directors and staff regarding the develop
ment of strategies on how to best position the physical therapy profession to meet the needs
of society and the profession.
E. Assess advocacy and member needs required to empower members with information to be
engaged in association policy efforts.
The Wellness and Prevention Work Group under the leadership of Doug Slick, provided the Board of Directors with recommendations related to this area in January. The work group has done a tremen-dous job in providing valuable information to physical therapists and consumers. To access this infor-mation please use the following address: http://ppta.org/Committees/PracticeResearch/health-and-wellness. In the upcoming year, the Committee will provide PPTA Board of Directors information on direct ac-
cess as the association looks at possibly changes in the practice act. The gathering of this information
will continue with the assistance of the Practice Act Work Group.
The Committee will assist in examining Compact Legislation which enables a physical therapist who
practice in Pennsylvania to practice in another state who is a member of the Compact. Currently,
five states enacted this legislation and PPTA is investigating the possibility to pursue this legisla-
tion. The PPAC will be actively engaged and provide any supportive information needed o the
Board of Directors and the Legislative Ambassadors Network when needed.
The PPAC will continue to examine issues related to policy as they come forward. It is anticipated as changes to health care occur at the National level it will affect health care in the Common-wealth. When this occurs, the PPAC will review any issues that may arise. If you have any ques-tions or need information related to these areas please feel free to contact me at [email protected]. I hope you have a great spring and I look forward to seeing you soon at a PPTA sponsored event.
ETHICS IN DAILY PRACTICE
Gerri Grzybek, PT, GCS
PPTA Ethics Committee Member
The Code of Ethics for the Physical Therapist and The Standards of Ethical Conduct for the Physi-
cal Therapist Assistant are core documents that are the framework of our practice. More than
‘right’ or ‘wrong’, these documents, as delineated by the APTA House of Delegates, highlight the
ethical obligations for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. No Code of Ethics or
Standards of Conduct can address every situation. Rather, these are important frameworks that
can guide thoughtful reflection and subsequent action in everyday practice.
https://www.apta.org/uploadedFiles/APTAorg/About_Us/Policies/HOD/Ethics/CodeofEthics.pdf http://www.apta.org/uploadedFiles/APTAorg/About_Us/Policies/Ethics/StandardsEthicalConductPTA.pdf
The physical therapist and physical therapist assistant have the special obligation to empower,
educate, and enable those with impairments, activity limitations, participation restrictions, and
disabilities to facilitate greater independence, health and wellness and enhanced quality of life.
Ethical dilemmas are encountered by physical therapists and physical therapist assistants daily.
Questions of conduct may include:
How do you respond to a patient/client expressing unsolicited political views far contrary to
your own?
How do you respond to a supervisor that encourages placing a patient in a higher RUG level
than you assign based on your clinical decision making?
How do you respond to a practice manager that reviews your documentation and charges
and encourages “tweaking the charges” posted to an account?
How do you respond to a practice manager that reviews your documentation and charges and
encourages ‘tweaking the charges” posted to an account?
How do you respond to a care manager that states “The patient’s insurance won’t cover inpa-
tient acute rehab; they’ll go to a SNF” when based on your clinical judgment, greater than
three hours of rehabilitation is in the best interest of the patient?
How do you respond when a patient gives you a “Thank You” card and enclosed in the card is a
$100.00 Gift Card?
How do you respond when you have observed fellow professional behaviors and you believe
they may be suffering from a physical or a psychological or a substance –related impair-
ment?
How do you respond when your professional organization sends out a ‘CALL TO ACTION’ to
communicate with lawmakers regarding a piece of legislation that may effect the health care
that our patients /clients receive?
Each of these scenarios is covered in our Code of Ethics and Standards of Ethical Conduct. The PPTA
Ethics Committee encourages yearly review of these core documents in your practice. Use them as
a guide for your daily practice and a tool for teaching the next generation of practitioners as well as
other health care stakeholders and the public on who we are as a Profession. Moral courage to re-
flect on who we are AND what we believe are imperative to continue to weather the winds of
change in our ever changing health care environment.
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWS
ACUTE CARE
By Melissa Lesser, Chair
Happy Spring!
We wanted to thank Bill Pino, PT DPT, and Joe Borst, PT DPT, for presenting for the Acute Care
SIG sponsored webinar on “Mobilization of Patients with A Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in the
Acute Care Setting,” in March. We are always looking for presenters for future webinars. Please
contact any of the Acute Care SIG committee members with any interest!
There are a number of upcoming events that we wanted to make you aware of listed below.
PPTA Annual Conference
October 27th-29th in Seven Springs Mountain Resort, PA
6th Annual Johns Hopkins Critical Care Rehab Conference
November 2-4, 2017 in Baltimore, MD
Of note, there was a recent article published in the most recent issue of PT Journal on “Core Do-
mains in Evaluating Patient Outcomes after Acute Respiratory Failure: International Multidisci-
plinary Clinician Consultation,” by Carol L. Hodgson et al.
We are always open to feedback on what our members hope to get out of the Acute Care Spe-cial Interest Group. Please contact us with any questions, comments or feedback!
NEUROLOGIC
By Sara Hershberger, Chair
We aim to provide additional continuing education opportunities to members, information regard-
ing current practice issues, and opportunities for all members to contribute to our community of
therapists interested in neurological PT practice. We encourage you to contact the SIG at
[email protected] if there is information you would like to see in an upcoming newsletter.
Continuing Education:
We hosted a successful journal club this January regarding the TBI EDGE document. Our presenter,
Victoria Kochick, PT, DPT, NCS, discussed the published article from JNPT’s October 2016 issue and
answered questions regarding the creation of the TBI EDGE document. We appreciate the participa-
tion of all those who attended! Please be on the lookout for more webinars this spring and sum-
mer, as we have been coordinating efforts with other SIGs to bring more educational opportunities
to our membership.
Neuro SIG at the PPTA Annual Conference 2017:
Our format this year will return to an individual continuing education session for each SIG. We are
in the process of finalizing our speaker and presentation-- please look to the summer newsletter for
full details.
It’s that Time of Year Again...
It’s never too early to begin thinking of colleagues you would like to recognize for their excellence
in neurological physical therapy practice, education, or research! The general call for nominations
will be going out from the PPTA, but we encourage our membership to begin considering who they
feel should be honored with our SIG award this year at the annual meeting.
Other News:
Neuro SIG President Sara Hershberger will be attending the April board meeting to represent
SIG leadership.
Do you have an article review you would like to share? We would love to include it in a news-
letter to share with membership! Please contact us if this interests you.
We are looking to offer at more continuing education opportunities in the coming year and
next for SIG membership.
PHYSICAL THERAPIST ASSISTANTS
By Doug Slick, Chair
Productivity Pitfalls
What is the value of physical therapy? This is a nagging question for our profession, and one with no single or simple response. “The ability to demonstrate value is fast becoming a prerequisite to participation in the US health care system,” according to a 2013 article by Dianne Jewell, Justin Moore and Marc Goldstein.
Fiscal responsibility and delivering evidence-based interventions are hot topics in the current healthcare environment. The APTA is well supported in taking the position that we should exam-ine the impact of physical therapy based on our patient’s outcomes, the value we provide to our facilities as well as the value to the healthcare system. As we calculate the elusive determination of our value, some factors that should be included are treatment time, consultation, rounding, pa-tient education, documentation and coordinating care. These efforts must then be measured against the cost compiled to determine true value.
Empirically, we know physical therapy provides value; we also know it does not generate income for an acute-care hospital. According to Medicare Interpretive Guidelines for Hospitals, rehabilita-tion services are an “optional hospital service.” It is only sensible that the facility would seek evi-dence that rehabilitation services are a good investment.
Again, Jewell, Moore and Goldstein: “It is no longer sufficient to rely upon a theoretical argument that physical therapy's contributions are beneficial to society. Consistent practice behaviors and a body of credible evidence are required if patients, employers, payers, and policy makers are going to consider physical therapist services among their value priorities.”
In many settings, especially in the acute care setting, administrators are using a simplistic formula of counting the heads a therapist sees in a day, or the number of CPT codes billed. There is no ob-jective data behind the goals set using these methods. Various healthcare and consulting compa-nies determine a number, based on whatever formula they choose to utilize. It appears that the demographic and acuity of the caseload are not considered in the process of establishing these benchmarks. When simple productivity is used as the sole method of ascribing value to physical therapy intervention, the calculation ignores the positive impact of physical therapy on the length of stay, readmissions rates, patient disposition at discharge and achievement of patient goals. Clearly, this is not a valid method of determining the value of our services.
Please consider these two examples:
Our first therapist sees 12 patients in a day, but several are independent with mobility and should have been discharged from services. Several of the others remain unable to care for themselves after their hospital admission and are admitted to an inpatient rehabilita-tion facility before returning home. Some of them become readmissions to the hospital in a few weeks.
Now consider a therapist who only sees 9 patients on that same day, having not treated patients who didn’t require therapy. Several of this therapist’s patients were able to safely go directly home, and none of them returned to the hospital in the next month.
In terms of systemic impact, the second therapist obviously outperformed the first. However, using the mindless productivity formula, the first is rewarded, the second punished.
The Productivity/Value Task Force, headed by Jim Dunleavy, PT, DPT, MS is operating under the auspi-ces of the APTA Acute Care Section to address this insufficient method. Dunleavy states, “A blended measurement system that encompasses the patient’s severity, patient defined outcomes, as well as the cost of the care that meets those outcomes is the best way to determine the value of acute care physi-cal therapy services to the patient, the facility and the healthcare system.” The Task Force is piloting just such a tool; it is titled The Value/Productivity Measurement System. The system has been tested in 17 facilities around the country. Dunleavy explains, “It will give each PT practice the ability to look at variations in practice as it relates to the time spent in care, and relate it to the outcome of treatment.”
An April 2010 article published in The Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation by Needham, et al. is among many studies demonstrating the value of early mobility involving ICU patients. A program directed by a PT (or a PTA) will help reduce the length of stay in the ICU, and counteract the negative impact on function that such an admission places on the patient. Due to the high acuity of ICU patients, therapists practicing in this environment will not see as many patients daily vs. those on less critical floors.
Smith, Fields and Fernandez published an article in the May 2010 issue of PT Journal. They examined the discharge recommendations made by physical therapists in the acute-care setting. They calculated that the PT’s recommendations were followed 83% of the time. Apparently, those involved in dis-charge planning from hospitals value the thoughts of physical therapists. As for the appropriateness of PT suggestions, patients were found to be almost three times more likely to be readmitted to the hospi-tal when the therapist’s recommendation was not followed, or follow-up services were a mismatch. That represents a significant contribution toward patient outcomes, value provided to the healthcare institution and the healthcare system by our profession. Unfortunately, this impact is missed when cal-culating value by productivity.
In their September 2011 systemic review, Peris, Taylor and Shields examine the impact of physical ther-apy on length of stay, functional outcomes and quality of life. They found that an extra nineteen minutes of PT each day resulted in, “statistically significant reductions in length of stay that may be clin-ically significant for patients, the health service, health insurance premium payers, taxpayers, and the community. Also, our review has demonstrated that extra PT resulted in increased rates of improve-ment in walking ability, activity, and quality of life across acute and rehabilitation settings in patients with a variety of health conditions.” Perhaps we should be targeting some patients for increased thera-py in order to maximize the positive effects of our interventions instead of merely calculating widgets.
The dynamic created by productivity goals dissuades evidence-based practice and encourages a dys-functional environment where therapists compete against one another to simply log the maximum number of visits without regard to the evidence behind our interventions or the beauty of our practice. We anxiously await the release of The Value/Productivity Measurement System by Dunleavy and his Task Force, and I would hope our association and our profession award it the notoriety and support it deserves. References upon request
PAYMENT SPECIALIST NEWS
By Carole Galletta
Issues in this article: Spring PPTA Reimbursement and Regulation Update Webinar 2017 CPT codes for PT Evaluation/Re-evaluation Member Benefit… Reimbursement Blasts – Archived on PPTA website Member Benefit… Payment Specialist Ongoing Action Items (Tracking Trends/APTA Advocacy) Spring Reimbursement and Regulation Update Webinar
The PPTA Spring Reimbursement and Regulation Update Webinar will be presented Thursday, April 27, 2017 from 9 am to 3 pm. A lot has happened since the Fall Up-date…Register now on the PPTA website www.ppta.org
2017 CPT codes for PT Evaluation/Re-evaluation Medicaid Issues: The PA Department of Human Services has reported that they will up-
date the PA Medicaid fee schedule to include the 2017 CPT codes for PT Evaluation (97161,97162,97163) and PT Re-evaluation (97164) in August 2017. This is causing problems with Medicaid managed care programs who reference the PA Medicaid Fee Schedule and are denying the 2017 codes because they are not yet published. I am pursuing a remedy to this issue, but in the interim, you may need to use the de-leted CPT codes 97001 and 97002.
Workers’ Comp Issues: The PPTA has filed a petition to contest the method used by the PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to calculate the WC fee schedule amounts for 2017 CPT codes for PT Evaluation (97161, 97162, and 97163). A “Member Blast” was emailed on 3/16/17 detailing this issue. It can be retrieved from www.ppta.org log in as a member and scroll down the “Members Only” section to “Reimbursement Archive.”
Please be in touch if you are experiencing payment issues with the 2017 codes.
Reimbursement Blasts: Reimbursement Blasts are now archived on the PPTA website!
Not sure if you’ve missed a “Blast?” Navigate to www.ppta.org Log in as a member and scroll down the “Members Only” section to “Reimbursement Archive.”
What is a “Reimbursement Blast?” The PA Chapter of the APTA offers members a di-rect and timely way to receive reimbursement and regulation information. If you are a member and would like to be on the Reimbursement Blast email list, contact Toni Annibali at the PPTA office through [email protected] and request that your email address be added to the Blast list. All PTs and PTAs requesting to receive Blasts must be members of the PPTA. If you are administrative staff working with a PPTA member, just give us the member number of your colleague and you can sub-mit your email address.
MEMBER BENEFIT! Payment Specialist
As a PT or PTA member of the PPTA, you and your support staff may contact the PPTA
Payment Specialist for current information on reimbursement and regulatory issues or to
help solve related problems. Contact information is [email protected] or
412.266.8717. If you email, please include your name and member number. If you are a
non PT or PTA support staff member, please include the PPTA member’s name and num-
ber that you work with in the message, and always complete the subject line with the
topic of your question.
Ongoing ACTION ITEMS: Tracking Trends: Please email the PPTA Payment Specialist ([email protected]) if
you identify a CPT code that is being denied; an ICD-10 coding issue; and/or pay-ment denial issues that may signal a change in a payer’s payment policies or medi-cal policies. Your daily handling of physical therapy claims is an invaluable re-source for the Payment Specialist in tracking payer trends for PT in Pennsylvania!
As large insurers begin to merge, patient benefits, provider networks, and payment rates all are likely to change and we need to be prepared to demonstrate our con-cerns in concert with other affected stakeholders. APTA suggests that members notify them at [email protected] regarding significant policy/benefit changes as they occur. Please copy Carole Galletta [email protected] on communica-tions to APTA.
APTA wants to advocate on behalf of our membership and the profession to address issues related to the increased use of third-party administrators. To develop a cohe-sive strategy with viable alternatives, APTA needs to gather specific data. If you are experiencing problems with a UM/UR vendor, complete this form, and APTA staff will contact you within 3 days to discuss the issues that have been presented. Please do not share any information that would violate the Health Insurance Porta-bility and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Here’s the feedback form:
http://www.apta.org/Payment/PrivateInsurance/TPAUtilizationMgmtReview/FeedbackForm/
ARCADIA UNIVERSITY
On January 13, 2017, 56 entry level, 41 transitional and 6 orthopaedic resident graduates joined the nearly 2000 alumni who hold a degree in Physical Therapy from Arcadia University. The guest speaker was James J. Irrgang, PT, Ph.D., ATC, FAPTA, Professor and Chair of the Department of Phys-ical Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Dr. Irrgang challenged the graduates to think about a value-based health care system and how they would use data to demonstrate the value of physical therapy services.
Publications and Presentations Carol Oatis, PT, PhD received the 2016 Addie Thomas Service Award from the Association of Rheu-matology Health Professionals at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Rheuma-tology in November in Washington DC.
Dr. Oatis is the co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Patricia Franklin in the Department of Orthopedics, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA. Their study, funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), is titled “Defining components of Physical Therapy achieving maximum function after TKR”.
Dr. Oatis participated in a workshop entitled “The Circle of Care: Rheumatologist, Orthopedist, and Therapist” at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology and Associa-tion of Rheumatology Health Professionals, Nov 12-16, 2016, Washington, DC.
Dr. Amy Miller coauthored a study published in the February 2017 journal of Home Health Care Management & Practice titled “Reduction in Re-Hospitalization Rates Utilizing Physical Therapists within a Post-Acute Transitional Care Program for Home Care Patients with Heart Failure.”
Dan Aaron Stay Fit Program Receives Parkinson Council Grant For the sixth year in a row, Arcadia’s Physical Therapy department’s Dan Aaron Stay Fit Program has received a generous grant from the Parkinson Council. Dr. Janet Readinger, director of the pro-gram, will use the grant to help support exercise programs for community members with Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson Disease, as well as a caregiver support group. This program provides the opportunity for physical therapy students and faculty members to apply principles taught in the classroom to a real world experience while providing benefit to the participants. Because of the sup-port from the Parkinson Council, the participants are able to undergo an intensive exercise program in an environment that provides safety as they address deficits that limit their mobility and quality of life.
SCHOOL NEWS
Arcadia at CSM Arcadia faculty and students were very active at CSM in San Antonio. A total of 34 faculty and stu-dents were involved with 8 poster/platform sessions and 3 different educational sessions.
Drs. Janet Readinger, Karen Sawyer, and Susan Tomlinson partnered with Christina Kocol, a stu-dent in Arcadia's International Peace and Conflict Resolution and Counseling Masters programs to present an educational session at CSM entitled “Affective Domain Development: Drawing From Outside Physical Therapy.”
Continuing Education Course, March 18-19, 2017 The annual Arcadia/Beaver/Penn Physical Therapy Alumni Association continuing education course features Dr. Shirley Sahrmann, Professor Emeritus of Physical Therapy at Washington Uni-versity School of Medicine. She will present “Movement System Impairment Syndromes of the Lumbar Spine and Hip: Interactions and Evidence.”
Please follow this link for more information and to register: https://www.arcadia.edu/college-health-sciences/departments-faculty/physical-therapy/continuing-education
DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY
Faculty News
Congratulations to: Reggie Harbourne, PT, PhD, PCS who has been named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow!
Dr. Borello-France, who is guest editor on a special series dedicated to pelvic floor disor-
ders for the March issue of the PT Journal. Related to this series, she led a focused sympo-
sium sponsored jointly by the Research and Women’s Health sections at CSM 2017.
Ben Kivlan, PT, PhD, OCS, SCS who was selected as the recipient of the 2017 Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence in the John G. Rangos, Sr. School of Health Sciences. The faculty who presented at CSM this year including: Dr. Mary Marchetti, Dr. Borello-
France, Dr. Rob Martin, Dr. Ben Kivlan, and Dr. Reggie Harbourne.
Drs. Martin & Kivlan who had 1700 attendees at their CSM Educational Session entitled,
“Hip Instability: Mechanisms and Management of the Unstable Hip in Athletes”.
Dr. Greg Marchetti who was awarded the distinguished ‘Certified Professional Ergonomist’
credential by the Board of Certification in Professional Ergonomics.
Student News
Congratulations to:
Colin Phillips for being selected as the Physical Therapy Department’s 2017, ‘Most Out-
standing Student’. Colin completed the professional phase of the PT program with a cumu-
lative GPA of 3.9. While at Duquesne, Colin not only excelled in academics but also cap-
tained the Men’s DI soccer team for 3 years and was named a First Team Academic All-
American in 2015. Colin is currently completing a clinical rotation at the David Grant Medi-
cal Center, the Air Force Medical Service’s flagship treatment facility in California. It has
been Mr. Phillips’ passion to serve those who have served our Nation. Mr Phillips is sched-
uled to graduate in August of 2017.
Katherine Auwaerter & Colin Phillips both from the Class of 2017 who were selected as re-
cipients for the Three Rivers Academic Consortium clinical education scholarship.
Megan Fonagy, Nick Maggio, Justine Huber & Katie Auwerter (students from the Class of
2017) who were each $2,500 recipients of the Father Naos McCool Scholarship Award. The
purpose of the scholarship is to recognize PT students in their final professional phase year
who demonstrate qualities consistent with the Mission of the Department, School, & Uni-
versity – namely empathy and compassion. To be considered, students must be nominated
by a faculty member or fellow classmate before being invited to apply.
Best of luck to:
Molly Ruffner and Nick Maggio both from the DPT Class of 2017 as they head West for their
Clinical Rotation at Ranchos Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, CA.
Research:
Dr. Reggie Harbourne continues to lead the multi-site clinical trial supported by the Department of Education for early intervention in infants with neuromotor disorders. This trial is currently re-cruiting in Pittsburgh through Duquesne University and in the Philadelphia area through the Uni-versity of Delaware. Follow this link for more information: http://start-play.unl.edu
LEBANON VALLEY COLLEGE
Announcements:
Professor Kathryn N. Oriel, PT, EdD and Associate Professor Michael L. Fink, PT, DSc, SCS, OCS have recently assumed the position of Co-Chair of the Physical Therapy Department at Lebanon Valley Col-lege effective January 1st, 2017. Katie and Mike would like to acknowledge the great work of the for-mer department chair, Associate Professor Stan Dacko, PT, PhD, for his leadership in this role over the preceding decade.
The Lebanon Valley College Physical Therapy Department would like to welcome its newest fulltime faculty member, Clinical Assistant Professor Justin T. Mierzwicki, PT, DPT, GCS. Justin is a graduate of the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, where he attained his Master and Doctor of Physical Therapy degrees. Justin most recently worked as a clinician within the Acute Care Physical Therapy Department at Good Samaritan Health System before joining the LVC faculty. He continues to spend his clinic day at GSHS, specializing in care of the frail elderly as a Geriatric Certified Specialist. Justin will be teaching courses within his areas of expertise.
Peer Reviewed:
Lehr ME, Kime D, Onks C, Silvis M, Streisel M. Development of a preliminary evidence-based neuro-musculoskeletal exercise guideline to reduce injury risk in the lower limb. Physical Therapy in Sport. 2016 Sep 17.
George CL, Wood-Kanupka J, Oriel KN. Impact of Participation in Community-Based Research Among Undergraduate and Graduate Students. Journal of Allied Health. 2017 Mar 2;46(1):15E-24E.
Presentations:
A group of Lebanon Valley College DPT students who are involved with the C.U.R.E. (pro bono) clinic recently presented their research “Health Knowledge of Patients in Pro Bono Setting” at the Pro Bono Network Eastern Conference at Widener University. Students involved in the study: Lehman C, Mur-phy A, Sborz C, Van Buskirk E, Hockley E, Laufert A, and Moatz E. The student who delivered the platform presentation was Allison Laufert and the faculty advisor was Stan Dacko.
Eight LVC faculty (i.e. Stan Dacko, Marcia Epler, Claudia Gazsi, Michael Lehr, Robin Myers, Matt Walko Michael Fink, and Kathryn Oriel) were authors on posters presented at CSM 2017 along with 19 LVC DPT students.
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
Faculty in the department of PT have recently received grant awards for their research. Dr. Hiremath received a grant from Craig H. Neilsen Foundation titled, “Just-in-time adaptive feed-back systems to assist individuals with spinal cord injury,” and Dr. Liz Thompson received a Kinesi-ology Department Doctoral Research grant for her dissertation on improving gait for people with Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Christopher Thompson also received an R01 as a Co-Investigator entitled, “The Human Motor Output Map.”
At CSM this year, faculty presented two educational sessions (Dr. Sinnott, Dr. Galgon), a
platform (Dr. Liz Thompson on dynamic balance in older adults), and three posters (Dr. Sinnott presented on a clinical decision making model, Drs. Skrzat, Lauer, Hiremath, and Tucker on the topic of muscle fatigue and recovery, and Dr. Christopher Thompson on patterns of motor unit discharge across the lower extremity). Dr. Christopher Thompson also presented his work at the Congress for the International Society of Electromyography and Kinesiology, the International Mo-toneuron Meeting (Istanbul), and the International Conference on Neurorehabilitation (Segovia).
Recent research publications include Dr. Burns’ 2 publications in JOSPT, Dr. Liz Thompson’s
3 publications in press (two in J. of Geriatric Phys Ther and one in PLOS One), and Dr. Christopher Thompson 2 publications (IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc and Converging Clinical and Engineering Re-search on Neurorehabilitation II).
The students have been active in community service, seeing patients at the North Broad
PT Center, a Temple student-run/faculty-advised pro bono clinic. Students recently presented at the PT Pro Bono Network meeting and DPT student, Jenna Harrison, presented to the Temple Pharmacy students to facilitate inter-disciplinary collaboration at the pro bono center. Two indi-viduals were recently honored for their leadership capabilities. Victoria Wrightson, SPT, received the 2017 PPTA Federal Advocacy Forum Scholarship and Dr. Egan was accepted into the Provost’s Teaching Academy, a competitive program for faculty to take leadership roles within the Universi-ty to share instructional strategies and promote excellence in teaching.
The Department of PT has also been offering continuing education to the community. Dr.
Galgon held a course on March 25th on Management of BPPV. The next Temple Orthopaedic Resi-dency Program course, “Orthopedic Manual PT for Patients with Upper Extremity Disorders,” is this April 1-2, 2017.
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Faculty Debora L. Miller, PT, MBA, FACHE, was awarded the Section on Health Policy and Administration of
the APTA’s LAMPLighter Award for Leadership at its award ceremony in February 2017 at the Com-
bined Sections Meeting 2017 in San Antonio, TX. Miller, who was recently appointed vice dean of the
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, presented for the HPA, LAMP Institute for Leadership in
Physical Therapy and Leadership 201 – Advanced Leadership Development: The Catalyst for Leading
Other Programs and was a program coordinator and lead facilitator for a number of programs.
Sara Piva, associate professor and co-director of the Physical Therapy Clinical and Translational Re-search Center, has been invited to serve as a member of the American College of Rheumatology Prac-tical Guidelines Subcommittee for 2017-2018. She will help to develop a set of guidelines in main top-ics in rheumatology, and will review and approve the guideline manuscripts and related documents. Piva also has been appointed to serve this year on the work group for the development of clinical performance measures on the Surgical Management of Osteoarthritis of the Knee (SMOAK) repre-senting the American Physical Therapy Association. Student News A group of Doctor of Physical Therapy students traveled to Guatemala in March during spring break with Hearts in Motion, a non-profit organization that provides care and medical treatment for com-munities in the United States, Central and South America. The students helped provide free physical therapy services in remote villages where there is limited access to healthcare. Patrick Sparto, associate professor, Departments of Physical Therapy, Otolaryngology and Bioengi-neering, and four DPT students, Nikki DiSalvio, Samantha Gladnick, Kelson Coddington and Courtney Yun, participated in the Investing Now program, which promoted physical therapy as a profession to high school students interested in STEM careers in January. The students gave demonstrations and discussed the work of physical therapists. Thirty DPT students volunteered their time in February at UPMC-Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side, Pittsburgh, providing musculoskeletal screenings for individuals planning to run the Pitts-burgh Marathon in the spring. The students screened 50 runners for flexibility, strength and motor control deficits, and prescribed impairment specific exercise instruction to improve the runners’ training and decrease injury risk. Jeffrey Moorhead Jr., DPT student, was named a Travel Award Winner for the fifth annual Symposium on Regenerative Rehabilitation in October 2016 at Emory University in Atlanta. Moorhead has been working with research scientists of the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh to establish rehabilitation protocols for stem cell therapies. He and other students of different healthcare professional programs at Pitt also have been teaming up to bridge gaps in inter-professional educational so the university can develop health professionals who are equipped to face the challenge of providing efficient, affordable, high quality , patient center care.
UNIVERSITY OF THE SCIENCES
APTA CSM:
Associate Professor of PT Margie Roos, PT, DPT, PhD, NCS, was part of the team winning the Golden Synapse Award from the Academy of Neurologic PT. She was an author on “Relationship Between Walking Capacity, Biopsychosocial Factors, Self-efficacy, and Walking Activity in Persons Poststroke”.
Poster Presentations:
Assistant Professor Eric Folkins PT, DPT, CSCS, Tom Buklarewicz DPT’16, Yaroslav Sokolovskyy DPT’16, Zach Theinert DPT’16, and Frank Ryan DPT’16: "Cervical Traction Training Program: Utilizing Biofeed-back and Motor Learning Principles."
Associate Professor Margie Roos PT, PhD, NCS, Thomas Wintringham DPT’16, Courtney Heys DPT’16, and Asia Pickney DPT'16: "Determining Walking Activity in People with Stroke and Healthy Older Adults: A Comparison of Moderate and High Intensity Walking Minutes."
Assistant Professor David Logerstedt, PT, PhD, SCS, Gabrielle Adams DPT’16, and Olivia Pryzbylkowski DPT’16 : "Influence of Patient Demographics and Graft Type on ACL Second Injury Rates in Ipsilateral vs. Contralateral Limbs: Systematic Review.”
Marc Campolo, PT, PhD, DPT Chair, Jennifer Freda DPT’16, Matthew Hyland DPT’16, and Farryn Kauff-man DPT’16: "The Effect of Kinesiotape on Quadriceps Motor Unit Function."
DCE and Associate Professor Shelly Lewis, PT, DPT: "Exploring the Influence of Clinical Experience on Students' Prioritization of Core Values."
Platform Presentations:
Lora Packel, PT, PhD, CCS, and Julia McGlynn DPT’16: “Translational Research in Cancer Related Fa-tigue.” Lindsay Bunyard DPT’16, Danielle Hoguet DPT’16, Alex Ruiz-Cortez, and Mehan Weisbecker DPT’16 participated in data collection.
Lora Packel PT, PhD, CCS: “Transitions in Care: An Interprofessional Workshop” to the Education Sec-tion.
Meredith Stewart DPT’17 presented: “Lived experiences of patients with children with autism spec-trum disorders: Qualitative focus on parents' jobs, concerns, and needs” at the SOPAC conference in Colorado in November 2016, and at CSM in February 2017, “Lived experiences of parents with chil-dren with autism spectrum disorders: Parental perceptions of physical activity.” with former UScienc-es DPT faculty member Dr. Kim Ward.
Faculty: Melissa Lesser PT, DPT joined in January. Melissa received her BS in Exercise Physiology at WVU and DPT at Drexel. She's an active APTA/PPTA member, serving on the membership committee and as Acute Care SIG Chair. Her career includes acute care setting and early ICU mobilization.
WIDENER UNIVERSITY
Faculty, students and alumni have been busy over the winter and into the spring with one clear theme behind the efforts – engagement in activities that highlight and support the importance of service and giving back to the local community.
APTA CSM 2017
A number of faculty and students traveled to San Antonio in February to participate in the Com-bined Sections Conference. One highlight included a faculty and student presentation on the stu-dent-run model title, Physical Therapy Pro Bono Services: Not Just Free Therapy.
Faculty, Alumni and Student Panel L-R Jill Black, Kerstin Palombaro, Tim Golder, Tyler Suruskie, Daria Porretta, Ellen Erdman and Robin Dole.
A second highlight was first and second year students from the Institute for Physical Therapy Educa-tion representing Widener University and the Pro Bono Network at the Section Global Health Re-ception that followed the Health Policy and Administration Section business meeting.
The Eastern Regional Pro Bono Networking Conference
The Eastern Regional Pro Bono Networking Conference was held at Widener University on Satur-day, March 11th. The conference draws students and faculty from across the country and from across disciplines involved in pro bono service. Present at the conference was 170 attendees repre-senting 25 institutions.
Dr. Scott Voshell, PPTA Vice-president, provided the opening remarks and Dr. Sue Klappa delivered the keynote address entitled: Planting Seeds. Twenty oral presentations, 7 poster presentations, and a two-hour networking session made for a rich and productive day.
